Teeth and Tea: The Surprising Benefits and One Unexpected Drawback.

Green tea comes with health-promoting ingredients. Many studies found that drinking green tea can help you lose weight and reduce your risk of several illnesses, such as diabetes and heart-related problems. Studies have demonstrated that green tea improves blood flow and lowers cholesterol levels.

Green tea in cup

What’s good for the heart is usually good for the brain; your brain needs healthy blood vessels too. In the 2014 Swiss study, MRIs revealed that people who drank green tea had a more significant effect on cognitive functioning in the brain’s memory area. Additionally, green tea is renowned for blocking the formation of plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease.1)

Exploring the Hidden Health Marvels of Tea

The benefits of green tea do not stop there; green tea is also beneficial for oral health. Green tea contains Catechin and fluorine that can prevent tooth loss and periodontal disease and also prevent tooth loss. A cross-sectional study conducted by the Graduate School of Dentistry at Tohoku University revealed that older adults who drink four or more cups of green tea a day have 1.6 more teeth left than those who do not. This study also found that when people meet socially (more than ten friends and acquaintances a month), they drink 2.6 times more tea than those who do not meet socially. Since green tea is often drunk when meeting socially in Japan, Associate Professor Aida and his colleagues believe that the more opportunities people have to consume green tea, they will keep more of their teeth.2)

Unveiling the Downsides of Green Tea: Unwanted Teeth Stains in Shades of Brown and Yellow.

There are so many benefits to drinking green tea. What are the cons? Green tea can lead to tooth stains. While many are aware of coffee’s stain-inducing properties, it may surprise some that green tea is also capable of leaving behind stubborn stains.

Green tea may stain teeth more than coffee. Since tea leaves contain tannins, which naturally stain teeth, it is inevitable to have stained teeth unless you drink water right after a cup of tea each time to help reduce the amount of tannin left in your mouth. While tannin causes the teeth to have a dark blackish stain, it prevents cavities. In Japan, women used this tannin to make their teeth black to avoid cavities and, oddly, for cosmetic reasons until 100 years ago. It is called “ohaguro.” “oha” means teeth, and “guro” means black in Japanese. Of course, Japanese people love white teeth now; that was long ago.

Green tea fields

Unlocking the Secrets to a Stain-Free Experience

If you think it is a hassle to wash your mouth after a cup of green tea or worry too much about staining your white teeth, there are more permanent solutions: porcelain veneers or prep-less veneers. Dental veneers only get stains like natural enamel and retain their color and brightness if cracked or damaged. We had a patient who loved to drink tea. She drinks over 10 cups daily, from Assam to green tea. She frequently used teeth whitening gels and occasionally did a Zoom treatment. One day, she complained about going through the whitening process because it is cumbersome to keep her teeth bright. We recommended she get porcelain veneers. Long story short, she no longer visits us for whiting except for a checkup. She says that it was a great decision to have porcelain veneers.

Exploring the Diverse Types and Selecting Your Perfect Match

Perpetually Radiant: The Enduring Brilliance of Porcelain Veneers.

And also myself. I had one upper central tooth with a composite. My mentor at the dental school did it when I was a student. It functioned well and was cosmetically pleasing. However, it stains much quicker than other teeth, and it is in the center of my face, so it stands out when it stains. I do not drink coffee or Coke but I am a big-time tea drinker. I always drink tea at every meal, during work, before bed, and while kayaking and mountain biking outdoors. My composite (plastic) tooth stains very quickly. About ten years ago, I asked my assistant to hold the suction and a mirror, and I prepped my tooth and made my veneer. Ever since then, I do not have the stain issue anymore. I brush and floss daily; that is all you need to keep the white teeth. If you are a tea or coffee drinker/lover, getting dental veneers may make drinking tea much more enjoyable.

What are the benefits of drinking green tea? 
 “Catechin content”: Catechin is an antioxidant that can even prevent cell damage. Green tea is not very processed before being poured into a cup.
  1. Schmidt A, Hammann F, Wölnerhanssen B, Meyer-Gerspach AC, Drewe J, Beglinger C, Borgwardt S.Green tea extract enhances parieto-frontal connectivity during working memory processing Psychopharmacology (2014), doi: 10.1007/s00213-014-3526-1
  2. Manami Hoshi 1OrcID,Jun Aida,*OrcID,Taro Kusama ,Takafumi Yamamoto,Sakura Kiuchi,Tatsuo Yamamoto,Toshiyuki Ojima,Katsunori Kondo, Ken OsakaIs the Association between Green Tea Consumption and the Number of Remaining Teeth Affected by Social Networks?: A Cross-Sectional Study from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study Project Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(6), 2052; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17062052